Areas of Work

Comments by Christian organisations on the European Commission’s Proposal for amendments to the Dublin III Regulations Regarding Unaccompanied Minors

Following the European Commission’s proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and the Council amending Regulation (EU) No. 604/2013 as regards the determination of the Member State responsible for examining the application for international protection of unaccompanied minors with no family member, sibling or relative legally present in a Member State – COM(2014)0382 final, Christian organisations based in Brussels made comments….

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9 December 2014: EU Member States must increase pledges to resettle and admit more refugees fleeing Syria

A coalition of NGOs have addressed an open letter to European institutions calling them to increase pledges to resettle and admit more refugees fleeing Syria.In less than a month from now, the European Union and its Member States have been invited to gather with their international counterparts for a ministerial-level pledging conference on resettlement and other forms of admission for Syrian refugees. The war in Syria has caused over 3 million people to flee from conflict and persecution. All EU Member States must seize this opportunity to...read more

Recommendations for the Development of Safe and Legal Paths to Protection in the EU

After the tragedies of Lampedusa and Malta in October 2013, the discussion on providing more safe and legal paths for persons in need of protection to enter the European Union has gained a new dynamic. Decision-makers from the entire political spectrum quickly joined Pope Francis and other representatives of religious communities in their call for solidarity with migrants and protectionseekers. Since then, however, the Commission-led ‘Task Force Mediterranean’ has not come up with....read more

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Dr Arjan Plaisier, President of the Synod of the Protestant Church in Netherlands visiting the refugee garage in Amsterdam where 8o rejected asylum seekers from 18 different countries are living.

The future migration and asylum policy of the EU

Contribution by Christian organisations to the consultation on the Future of Home Affairs Policies: An open and safe Europe – what next?

In 2014, the EU will have the opportunity and face the challenge of designing the future layout of policies in the area of Freedom, Security and Justice, including asylum and migration policies, in the successor of the Stockholm Programme. In this process, the EU will set the agenda for an area of....read more

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Statement by the European NGO Platform on EU Asylum and Migration (EPAM) on elements for the future EU Programme on Asylum and Migration

The economic crisis negatively affects the lives of all EU citizens, but especially the lives of migrants and refugees; a loss of jobs and residence status has been accompanied by a rise of racism and xenophobia. Despite EU Member States’ commitment and declarations to...read more

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NGO Statement on the occasion of the final vote on the Asylum Package

After five years of negotiations, the European Parliament will be voting on the final adoption of the‘asylum package’. Without any doubt, this is another milestone in the process of harmonisation in thefield of asylum; a process that started in Tampere in 1999 where EU leaders committed to establishing aCommon European Asylum System (CEAS), based on the full and inclusive application of the GenevaConvention. A commitment that was reaffirmed in the 2009 Stockholm Programme calling for...read more

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Right to Family Life and Family Reunification

75 NGOs call the EU Member States and the European Commission to safeguard family life of migrants and refugees

On the occasion of the public hearing on family reunification of third country nationals living in the EU, we, the undersigned organisations, call on the European Commission and EU Member States to guarantee the effective right to family life and family reunification for all migrants and beneficiaries of international protection. It is in the interest of Member States to harmonize practices and legislation in the field of family reunification. We remind that Member States have the obligation to properly implement the EU Family Reunification Directive and to remove the many legal and practical obstacles to family reunion that exist today.While all Member States could improve...read more, SPANISH, FRENCH

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166 civil society organisations call on the EU institutions to stand for

liberty of asylum seekers: Not crossing red lines

The European Parliament, the Council and the Commission are entering a decisive stage in the negotiations on the Commission proposals recasting the Directive laying down standards for the reception of asylum seekers and the Dublin Regulation. An important part of these proposals deals with the detention of asylum seekers during the examination of their asylum application and during Dublin procedures and includes provisions with regard to grounds of detention, procedural safeguards, detention conditions and detention of vulnerable asylum seekers, including children.The importance of this standard-setting exercise at EU level cannot be overstated also in light of its likely repercussions on detention practices in other regions of the world. Today, 166 organisations call on the EU institutions to seize this opportunity to adopt standards that fully endorse....read more

On behalf of 166 organisations, Amnesty International and the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) submitted an appeal to the negotiators….

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Enhancing volume and impact of refugee resettlement to the EU

20.000 EU places and policy coherence for resettlement – by 2020!

BackgroundRefugee resettlement offers long-term protection to the world’s most vulnerable refugees. It is understood as a process by which refugees who fled their country of origin and have found initial, but neither sufficient nor permanent protection in a second country, are resettled to a third country in which they find permanent protection. It is often the only hope for refugees who would be in danger of being sent back to torture and abuse or risk spending the rest of their lives in unbearable conditions without any future perspectives. Resettlement often does not only help those refugees resettled, but is beneficial for other refugees. This is for example the case when an offer of a substantial number of resettlement places encourages...read more

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Europe’s role in refugee protection in the 21st century

The large majority of refugees are currently hosted by poorer countries in the world. In the 20th century, Europe was the scene of displacement but also of providing protection. In the past years, the numbers of refugees in Europe has drastically declined, in disproportion to the global level. Numbers of refugees vary significantly between different European countries. Overall, fewer refugees find access into Europe and access to effective protection.

Therefore, priorities will be:

Defending asylum (including complementary protection)

Additional forms of refugee protection; including resettlement of refugees to Europe